A free chorale book for concert band
Version 1.0
I got the idea for a freely available chorale book for concert band when I realized how much money could be saved by creating my own (not including of course the countless hours to create the book). Then I stumbled upon the IMSLP. This proved to be a valuable resource in the creation of the book. All of the works contained in the book are in the public domain for the United States (I have not checked for other countries where the copyright is composer's death + a number of years).
Many traditional folk songs and hymns have been used alongside some works by famous composers. There is a decidedly Western music focus, but that could change for future generations of the book depending on how this first release goes.
Every chorale is arranged in 4 parts (with a few chorales requiring divisi). Every student book displays all 4 parts in 4 stave systems. This is very fundamental to the book.
Some benefits of this system include that each student can see what everyone else is doing, choose between a 1st and 2nd part (example, trumpets choose between soprano and alto), and play along with another part (example, tenors need work, have everyone play the tenor part).
Some cons to this system include that it is more difficult to read 4 stave systems, and part writing is limited to SATB which can result in difficulty writing parts that suit all ranges of all band instruments (note: this also causes some other part writing issues, voice overlap, 'naughty' parallel's, etc.). After some testing, I have found that some of the chorales just don't work because of the SATB limitation. These will be thrown out and replaced in version 2.
Please check out the score for an in depth look at how this book works. You'll notice that you only see the SATB parts in concert pitch. Trying to display what all 4 parts look like for every band instrument would have been too cumbersome. However, this is fine because each student book contains all 4 parts in the most appropriate range for their instrument. And, when a part goes a little high or a little low in the range, cue notes are given above or below accordingly.
